Weekend cold front over San Antonio brings showers, drop in temps

People walk by the Stargazer "Citlali" Statue as rain blankets Downtown San Antonio on Wednesday morning, Feb. 1, 2023. A late-arriving weekend cold front could bring isolated showers to the San Antonio area Monday.

While temperatures are expected to be cooler today, this weekend will be hot, according to the National Weather Service.

The cold front that arrived late Thursday will keep the temperatures down through Friday and into Saturday, but the wind will change Saturday, back to a southerly flow, bringing hotter air. That could drive temperatures as high as the 90s on Saturday, before temperatures drop back to the low 80s on Sunday.

"Winds are going to shift back to the South, bringing moisture back to the area," said Orlando Bermudez, a forecaster with NWS in New Braunfels. "That's the main difference between today and tomorrow. Today, for example, we're looking at highs in the mid-70s, but the temperature forecast for Saturday is 88, due to the moisture returning."

Another cold front arriving Sunday will drop the temperatures again, although the front could stay to the north of Bexar County that day. That means highs in the low 80s (82, Bermudez said) but that depends on the front. If the cold air mass makes it all the way into San Antonio on Sunday, temperatures could be in the upper 70s instead of the low 80s.

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The air mass is expected to continue into the Alamo City overnight Sunday into Monday, dropping Monday's temperatures nearly 20 degrees to highs in the mid-60s, Bermudez said. That second cold front will bring a breeze. Wind speeds could reach up to 20 miles per hour on both Saturday and Sunday.

A system of strong winds from the south will be causing those breezy conditions on Saturday, while Sunday's gales come from the late-arriving cold front. That front could also cause showers Monday.

"The same front coming Sunday stalls across the coastal plains, providing enough upward air that we can get a little bit of rain on Sunday afternoon," Bermudez said. "That's the main reason for the 20 percent chance of rain, there's enough lift for isolated showers. However, for San Antonio and down to the southwest, if the front decides to stay more to the south, we won't get any rain."

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